The New Star.

[Diel]

<u><b>Dilemma</b></u>I'm making a Swashbuckler and I looked through here and EQ2F. I was not satisfied and kind of irritated.Guides usually boast they are the best, but they lack something. It's special... something VERY important; Starting out with the class! End-game AA specs and epic gear FAQ's don't help none if you have no idea how to even survive getting there.As a new swashbuckler I need to ask questions and I need them answered. If we're lucky this thread might be so good it can be used to form a new guide and fill the gap in this forum.<b><u>The Questions</u></b>What stats do you go with for a Swashbuckler? What's the priority? From highest to lowest, would it be STR, AGI, INT, STA, WIS? Let's hear the stat priority and info for each build.What gear should a swashbuckler wear? Chain or rare leather or what? Let's hear the goods for builds.What about weapons? What's recommended, what's not? What's okay to use? I've looked and seen we can dual wield?I hope to learn more about this class, thanks to the readers of this topic! Feel free to also discuss AA's in here. Peace.

[PakMonyet]

<p>Well, lets see........imho I would say that for for Q1: Agi, Str, Sta, Int, Wis;  Q2: two part answer: check the broker; check the armor quest which starts with the NPC in Qharbor (forget his name, but he is located under the overhang of the building just as you go into the cloak square from the docks area, on the right).  Q3: Duel Wield Duel Wield Duel Wield.....again check the broker.....get the highest damage weapons (ignore the rating, straight damage) and get them with the same delay (longer the better).....I also prefer to stay with either both the same type of damage (ie both piercing, or both slashing); As to AA, I would start down the Rogue lines for Str and Agi....finish rogue lines first before going into Swash Lines......</p><p>Lil trick I tried when I was a newbie swash: search the players site for Swash's of about your level ranked high for say Health points, high melee hit stuff like that.....see what their wearing, wielding, and where their putting their AA.....high rankers generally equals successful swash and so you can get an idea what you should look for during your adventuring......</p><p>...Also check out EQ2Flames site forums.</p><p>Good Luck,</p>

[OutcastBlade]

<p>Don't dismiss the guides so readily. They give you some very important information for endgame tiers, and since our abilities rarely ever change throughout the tiers they are helpful for even the newb swash as well. Our primary focus is damage, even when we solo. Get the mob down as quickly as you can so you don't die hehe. </p><p>As for stats, I have to disagree with the above poster. Focus on Strength(increases damage of your CAs and auto attack damage), then in order of importance: Agility(Increases your power reserve), Stamina(Increases your health), Intelligence(Increases your poison proc... not much of an improvement to worry about), Wisdom(Good for resists)</p><p>For AAs, I don't know what would benefit you in the lower levels since AAs came into effect when I was level 40. But if I were to do it all again, I would focus in the Agility tree first for Walk the Plank, which turns the mob's back on you and Sailwind(Increases casting time of your CAs). I would then focus in Intelligence for feign death which will help you solo big time. In the swashbuckler tree focus in reach and style. You can alway respec your rogue tree later on for when you get to T8 to be more beneficial to your DPS. (Str 46482, Agi 46482, Sta 448, Int 41) </p><p>For equipment, try and get master crafted chainmail, and master crafted piercing and slashing weapons. You want to increase both piercing and slashing as you level.</p><p>IMO we are the most fun class in the game. We can solo. We can tank, and we can do an incredible amount of damage relative to the other dps classes. Stick with it mate, its a rewarding class.</p>

[riblete]

<cite>Diel wrote:</cite><blockquote><u></u>1. What stats do you go with for a Swashbuckler? What's the priority? From highest to lowest, would it be STR, AGI, INT, STA, WIS? 2. What gear should a swashbuckler wear? Chain or rare leather or what? Let's hear the goods for builds.3. What about weapons? What's recommended, what's not? What's okay to use? I've looked and seen we can dual wield?</blockquote><b>1.</b> STR and AGI are both very important. I value AGL higher if you are soloing or tanking, and value STR higher if you are grouping. The extra damage from higher STR will not kill a mob faster enough to avoid more hits than an equally higher AGI will. But with diminishing returns on higher stats, I would keep the two relatively close: Think 55%/45% or closer.  STA comes next for the boost to hit points. Most STR or AGL gear will have nice STA attached, so no real problem there. Lastly INT in preference to WIS, though there has not been any time where I had to pick one over the other.<b>2.</b> Chain has higher mitigation, so wear that. But in some cases, you may have the opportunity on a great piece of leather armor that statistically is better for you due to high +AGL +STR +Crit +DA +DPS etc. That has not come up for me yet, so I have always worn chain. As you are leveling, I would not spend the extra on master crafted armor... with an exception for the imbued chest piece with the self-heal proc. Starting with the level 32 master crafter imbued chest, always keep the MC chest. For all other items, buy the cheapest better-than-handcrafted piece you can find on the broker. No need to quest for armor as you will level fast anyways. Most of those better-than-handcrafted armors come in sets, so use advanced search on the broker for say lv 28-34 chain armor. Go to the last page (most expensive) and look at the titles. Feysteel this, or everling that. Then put Feysteel into the text search field, and look at the cheapest pieces. Try "raven" and "ever", etc. Do this every time you go by a broker, and you will often find pieces on the cheap. I tended to buy all my armor 5+ levels before I could even wear it. Saved tons of money, and was able to stay in the field instead of worrying over equipment. When I was level 32, I was already buying level 40+ armor.<b>3.</b> Buy one Master Crafted weapon each tier. Use the weapon you bought the last tier in your off hand. Switch back and forth between slashing and piercing each tier so that you always have both types for you skill-ups. If you go WIS line in achievements, then you will only need to equip the old weapon for 5-10 fights to get your skill up each level. A very minor amount of time. If you are dual-wielding, the off hand does not contribute a large part of the over DPS so a drop from being old-tier is again, minor. Also, be sure to buy an adornment for your weapons. They are very cheap, and add DPS.<b>Achievements:</b>There is a lot to be said for dual wield, it does do more damage early on than going wisdom, and you get the stat boost from the second weapon vs empty slot. I experimented with various combinations of AA's as I leveled up over the past 1 1/2 month. I found once I had enough AA's to like WIS / AGI best for the combination of damage output and defense while solo'ing. And both doth very well in a group, too. I only have two combinations I would recommend to try while leveling up:Dual-Wield:  STR - AGLSingle-Wield: WIS - AGLAgility gives you Walk-the-Plank (WTP) early on. This turns the mob around so that it is not hitting you, and lets you use your positionals as well. The final ability (23rd and 24th point) speeds up all your CAs casting so that you can blast out more damage faster, and also get in all of your positionals during a stun or WTP.Both STR and WIS give you defense and a boost to offense. STR gives around +12% crit, eventually, and an extra damage dealing CA. WIS gives you always-on ripost damage, which easily outdamages the STR-line CA, extra parry, and defense almost as good as the STR line. I like the no-offhand style of the WIS line, so prefer it. But some may want the stat boost from a second weapon.<b>Combat Abilities:</b>IMO, EQ2 is so easy and fast to level nowadays that it is a waste of money to buy better than adept I spells. If you can get Adept III's or Masters cheap (as in 20 gold at level 40), then do it. But they are simply not worth the money for only a few days play before you replace them again. Swashy's have tons of different CA's you will use in every fight. None are more than about 10% of the total damage... so a boost from Adept I to Master I only adds 1-2% total damage in your fights. When you cap out in the 70's, the combination of all the Master's can add 40-50% total. But you only have time to collect all of these because you are not gaining new levels. While leveling, there is simply no point. Everything is replaced every 14 levels or sooner.I also browsed the broker for all of my CA's up to about 10 levels ahead. We have so many, you may find that one or more is not on the broker at any given search (or some fool selling a level 26 Adept I for 1 plat!!!). There are a few times where I used an App 4 due to never seeing an adept on the broker.<b>Swashy is fun:</b>The best reason to play a swashy is because we are fun. We are not able to kill the highest con triple up solo. We do not have the highest tanking ability. We can not heal anyone, and we buff no one. We have to be in front, to the side, or behind mobs for various CAs, so we jump around a lot. We have debuffs on everything (CA's, poison), so the order you do them in can affect a fight. Paying attention, and doing what you need to do at every moment makes a difference. Thus playing well is rewarded (unlike many classes that can kill just fine while sucking). If you love action, a swashy might be for you.

[Diel]

I am loving the responses and saving this information to a text file.As for leveling pace... I don't mind a slow pace. It's kind of nice. So I play with combat experience disabled... hell, I could see myself going 1-80 with it off.

[Diel]

Actually, I've shown some interest in the Wis line. Fencing sounds kind of interesting. What stats would I need for that and which partner line would be the best? WIS-AGI or what?

[Serenade]

Str-Wis.Note that you wont be doing as much dps as a Str-agi DW spec till much later (around 60+) when you can finally find a decent 1-h with a good delay.

[Dreadpatch]

Hello! Welcome to the joyous world of swashying... All of the feedback here is really great and I certainly agree with most of it. What I don't agree with would also just be a consideration of personal preference. Personally I like str agi and duel wielding for many reasons that have been listed. Mostly melee critical, walk the plank, and the end of the agi line which is beautiful. One of the most important factors that has been missed in these posts is the sexy factor, as I'm sure Flaye would agree. Swashies are just the most sexy class in the game. And by the time you get hurricane and some nice versions of aoe's, get ready to see INSANE dps. I have a few toons, and I find the swashy by far to be the most fun!! Happy hunting and enjoy, I almost wish I could do it all over again... Also, I think I tanked more in groups leveling than dps'd. With my 80 swashy I can also tank pretty effectively. You can't really raid tank, but one group action you can pretty much tank anything except maybe RE2. I've even tanked Maiden's Chamber, which is a pretty high end game instance. Swashies rule!! It's why are forums are so quiet, we know we are bad [Removed for Content]!!